there just isnít enough room on
the ice for four teams. As Iíve said before, only one team can win the Stanley
Cup. Itís a shame really, because everybody who has made it this far truly
deserves to lift the cup over their head, but only one will.

We are now officially at the halfway mark of the Stanley Cup
tournament. The best hockey of the year has yet to be witnessed. I personally
havenít witnessed as exciting a playoff in quite some time, so letís get on with
it!

Iím pulling out all the stops here and going with seven game
series all around for the final four. If you want to win the Stanley Cup, youíll
have to earn it.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

DETROIT vs COLORADO

Was there ever any doubt that Detroit would be here? Not on
your life! Question was, up until the last day, who would they meet? I somehow
ended up scoring perfect in my western predictions for round two, picking
Detroit in 5 and Colorado in 7. Unfortunately, I wasnít so lucky in picking the
East. Itís funny really, in the West it took until the final day of the regular
season for seeding to be decided, but the East has had the most surprises. Iíll
talk more about that later.

Now, the modern day western rivalry continues, and neither
team is taking prisoners!!!

I had wondered if Colorado could even make it through,
having now played two seven game series, both against California rivals. Somehow
though, we see number one vs number two, as maybe it should be.

Make no mistake, there is a history between these teams, and
they make no secret of the fact they donít like each other. Both should consider
themselves lucky, if Colorado had never moved from Quebec, theyíd never meet
each other unless they were both in the finals. Perhaps that would be a good
thing, or not!!

The Avalanche never had the pleasure before now of playing
against Dominick Hasek, but the Red Wings know Patrick Roy all too well. Quite
frankly, both goaltenders have had their shaky moments this playoff season. Had
it not been for the game three 6-1 mishap in St. Louis, Detroit could have swept
their second round series. Then again, it had to be nice closing out the series
at home. Ditto for Colorado, who took seven games to do it, but did it on home
ice, in typical Roy fashion, with his 22nd career playoff shutout. We
have to give San Jose a lot of credit, however, they gave it everything they
had. A lucky bounce here or there and the Sharks would be here instead. A power
play goal in the dying seconds of game seven probably wouldnít have hurt either
(ask Kerry Fraser about that one!). Why any referee would call a penalty in the
final minute of a game seven is beyond me. This would never have happened if it
were the Stanley Cup Final.

Patrick Roy said after game seven that they are really
looking forward to this series against Detroit and that they match up well
against them. You have to think that something will give here. Colorado cannot
start off this series like they started against San Jose, or else this will be
over fast. However, if they match up so well, theyíll have to prove it. Theyíve
only won the last two games by one goal, one of them in overtime. Detroit will
have to continue to fire on all cylinders.

We canít ask for a better series here, the defending
champions against former champions looking to retain their title. The Avs have
essentially the same team that won them the Stanley Cup last year, minus Ray
Bourque. Peter Forsberg has returned to his fine form and is currently leading
the league in playoff scoring. Joe Sakic is showing us why he was the MVP of the
Olympics. Alex Tanguay, Chris Drury, Dan Hinote, Milan Hejduk, Darius
Kasparaitus, Greg DeVries are all names that have figured in the scoring for
Colorado. Detroit has more Olympians in Steve Yzerman, Brendan Shanahan, Brett
Hull, and Chris Chelios. Pavel Datsyuk is still on fire in only his rookie
season. Nicklas Lidstrom continues to show us why he is again a candidate for
the Norris trophy. On paper, youíd have to think that this could be the most
offensive oriented series we will see all year. However, Hasek and Roy will do
everything they can to keep it a low scoring affair.

If either team wants to advance to the final round, they
will have to leave their previous bad blood in the past and play hockey. I canít
wait for the puck to drop on this one, it will be a beauty! I have to wonder if
the extra rest that the Wings have enjoyed will be beneficial or will the Avs
pull another magic trick out of their helmets? All I can say is this, drop the
puck and may the best team win!

Prediction: Red Wings in 7

EASTERN CONFERENCE

CAROLINA vs TORONTO

First, Iíd like to tell the Ottawa Senators and Toronto
Maple Leafs if they ever meet in the postseason again, theyíre liable to drive
me absolutely bonkers! Itís a miracle they havenít already done so. I know one
thing, my hairline seems to have depleted somewhat after seven games. What a
series!!!

Unfortunately for the Ottawa Senators, third time was not a
charm. They just cannot beat the Leafs in the postseason. After it seemed they
had the series all but wrapped up, they just couldnít put that final nail in the
coffin. Leading one game to none, they lost game two in triple overtime. After
coming home and winning game three, they couldnít win game four and put a
stranglehold on the series. Then after going to Toronto and getting a lucky
break and winning game five, they couldnít come home and close it out. The Leafs
just would not be denied in game seven. Just goes to show you can have all the
finesse players you want, but if you donít have heart and killer instinct, you
wonít go anywhere. I wonít take anything away from Ottawa, they did play their
hearts out, but as weíve said many times before, they couldnít execute when they
needed to. Even though Toronto had and still has a depleted lineup, they managed
to get others to step up when they needed to.

Anyway, we have another series to talk about here. If you
thought the Ottawa-Toronto series was intense, you havenít seen anything yet!

Carolina in the final four Ė you donít say! Who would have
thought it possible? Not me, thatís for sure! You have to give Montreal credit,
they had a great season. The Saku Koivu story is as heartwarming a story as
weíre bound to see in a long time. I have to also salute the coaching staff of
the Habs for putting Jose Theodore back in goal for the final three minutes of
game six. Itís something Iíve never seen before in the playoffs. Another first,
Doug Gilmour breaking the seamless glass in the penalty box in frustration after
the team was already down 5-1 in the deciding game. Question is, will Gilmour be
back or will he retire? The Habs will be better next year, believe me. Jose
Theodore will get a lot of consideration for league MVP, along with Jarome
Iginla and Patrick Roy, Theodoreís idol.

I really donít know how to read this next series. The
Hurricanes are turning heads all over the NHL with their play in the postseason.
They got rid of New Jersey and Montreal, two very good teams, and they did it in
convincing fashion. Erik Cole continues to explode in his fine rookie season.
Arturs Irbe, the last of the standup goaltenders, continues to be stellar. Kevin
Weekes isnít bad either. The so called experts say you canít possibly win a
Stanley Cup with two goalies, but I say why not? The Canes have a balanced
attack, with not only Cole but Martin Gelinas, Ron Francis, Rod BrindíAmour,
Josef Vasicek, Jeff OíNeill, Sami Kapanen, Bates Battaglia. Does anybody have
even one of these players in their playoff pool? Quarterbacking the defense,
they have Glen Wesley, Aaron Ward, Bret Hedican and Sean Hill. If you would have
told me at the beginning of the playoffs that this team would be in the final
four, I never would have believed it. When fixing a computer, technicians use a
procedure called K.I.S.S., standing for Keep It Simple, Stupid. This is
essentially what this Carolina team has done so far. They donít try to make the
fancy plays, they just play patient hockey, wait for their chances, and when
they get them, they capitalize. They outscored Montreal 17-3 in the final 3
games, not to mention they mounted the biggest comeback of the second round.
After the Habs appeared as though they would cruise to a 3-1 series lead in game
three, the Hurricanes rallied to tie a 3-0 game in the third period and won it
in overtime. If you had to pick a turning point or a reason why this team is
still hanging around, this would be it. People talk about the shot heard around
the world, well Cole and Vasicek both were responsible for two shots heard
around Montreal in game four. They werenít pretty shots either, but they
counted. Where were the Forum Ghosts when we needed them?

The proverbial southern storm doesnít end here. The Canes
will face a Toronto Maple Leafs team who no question has faced some adversity
and has risen to the challenge, minus seven of their regular players! You have
to wonder just how much longer the Leafs can keep this up. They are bruised and
battered, but they have one goal in mind, the Stanley Cup. And itís been a long
time coming. Chants of "1967" at the Corel Centre in game three changed to
chants of "Na na na na hey hey hey goodbye" at the Air Canada Center in game
seven. What a difference a week makes. Given what theyíve accomplished so far,
they can probably squeak on through to the final, but only if they can contain
the balanced attack that the Hurricanes have displayed so far. As far as the
Leafs are concerned, weíve all seen this movie before, in 1993, 1994 and 1999.
Will 2002 mark an end to a long 35 years since the last championship? It was
mentioned in the Ottawa series to "expect the unexpected". Well I didnít believe
in Carolina, until now, and I do expect the unexpected. The Canes are headed for
the finals. The Leafs will simply run out of gas, unless they can finally get
Mats Sundin back, along with Mikael Renberg and Jyrki Lumme. Gary Roberts canít
carry this team forever, or can he? Oh yeah, and did I mention, this is the
first ever meeting between these two teams in the playoffs?